HOUSE BILL REPORT

SSB 6736

BYSenate Committee on Law & Justice (originally sponsored by Senators Pullen, Talmadge, Nelson, Halsan and McMullen)

Changing jurisdiction over tribal lands.

House Committe on Judiciary

Majority Report:  Do pass.  (14)

      Signed by Representatives Armstrong, Chair; Crane, Vice Chair; Belcher, Brough, Hargrove, Lewis, Meyers, Moyer, Padden, Patrick, Schmidt, Scott, Wang and Wineberry.

House Staff:Bill Perry (786-7123)

AS PASSED HOUSE MARCH 2, 1988

BACKGROUND:

Washington State has full criminal jurisdiction over the Quileute, Swinomish and Chehalis Indian Reservations.  The source of this jurisdiction is federal law.  Federal law also permits a state to retrocede jurisdiction back to the federal government.

Criminal acts committed by Indians or non-Indians within the reservation may be prosecuted in state court.  The Quileute, Swinomish and Chehalis tribes also provide law enforcement services to the reservation community through a tribal police force and tribal court system.  Federal funds for general law enforcement functions are not available to tribes subject to full state criminal jurisdiction.  Partial retrocession of state criminal jurisdiction would make federal funding available to the tribes.

A recent trade of lands between the federal and state governments was undertaken to make the boundaries of the Olympic National Park more regular.  However, the change left a portion of the Quileute Reservation under uncertain jurisdiction.

SUMMARY:

Upon receipt of a resolution from the Quileute, Swinomish or Chehalis Indian Tribe, the Governor may issue a proclamation retroceding to the United States partial criminal jurisdiction over the tribe's reservation.  The tribe may express its desire for retrocession by a resolution approved by a majority vote of the enrolled adult members of the tribe voting at the next general tribal election. On trust lands within the reservation, the tribe and the federal government have exclusive criminal jurisdiction over tribal members.  In certain subject areas, such as motor vehicle offenses, the state continues to have jurisdiction over Indians and non-Indians on all lands on the reservation.

Land within the Quileute reservation, the jurisdiction over which was left uncertain by Olympic National Park boundary changes, is made subject to the same jurisdiction as the rest of the reservation.

Fiscal Note:      Not Requested.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:    Walter Jackson, Quileute Tribe; Percy Youckton, Chehalis Tribe; Marvin Wilbur, Swinomish Tribe; Michelle Aquilar, Office of Indian Affairs.

House Committee - Testified Against:      None Presented.

House Committee - Testimony For:    Retrocession will allow receipt of federal money and therefore enhance law enforcement on the reservations.  It will also relieve non-tribal local law enforcement of the burden of trying to respond to tribal problems.  All the local non-Indian communities around the reservations support retrocession.

House Committee - Testimony Against:      None Presented.